Rolling Stone writer called ‘anti-Semitic’ for simply following the money

Popular Rolling Stone contributor, writer and blogger Matt Taibbi claims that he was sent e-mails which attacked him and accused him of anti-Semitism for exposing the investment bank giant Goldman’s Sachs and their shady financial dealings over the years. Taibbi goes into great detail in his seven page essay Inside The Great American Bubble Machine on events relating to such market manipulations as the Great Depression, the commodities bubble, the housing bubble and even the upcoming green/environment bubble, and has fingered Goldman Sachs as playing a leading role in each catastrophe. More important than the various scams that have played out, much to the detriment of the average American, Taibbi exposes the reloving door tradition of the private sector employee of Wall Street into high level, unelected positions in the US government.

For that blistering expose alone, Taibbi expected that he would receive reprisals from the Wall Street types looking to rebuke his charges, but never did he imagine that he would be charged with anti-Semitism for his article. Taibbi writes:

It’s been interesting, to say the least, watching the public reaction to my Rolling Stone piece last week. I of course expected that some kind of highly unpleasant response would come my way from Goldman and its allies in the press, but I admit to being surprised a little by the form this response took.

The most ludicrous of these, and the one that surprised me the most, is the accusation that my article was anti-Semitic propaganda. The first letter I got on this score I actually mistook for a joke sent to me by one of my friends. Then I got another one which I quickly realized was not a joke at all. “Isn’t it convenient,” it read, “that an Arab-American writer for Rolling Stone looks at Wall Street and picks the most prototypically Jewish firm around to demonize.”

The last time I heard something similar was a few years ago, when Debbie Schlussel, a severely dimwitted Detroit-based right-wing pundit, railed against my supposed Arabness after I wrote an article about the Lebanese population in Dearborn, Michigan. I wrote to her to let her know that I’m actually Irish and Filipino, and not at all an Arab, but never got a response. This time the charge is a little different, as several writers complained that my article was “a rehash of every classic anti-Jewish conspiracy theory” and “a pale copy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

For one thing, while Goldman’s founders a gazillion years ago were apparently Jewish, I seriously doubt that religion plays any role at all in the makeup of the modern Goldman. I don’t have any way of knowing this, but I would be shocked if it weren’t true that a majority of Goldman’s current employees were not Jewish. And whatever the reality is, I don’t care; it’s not a concern of mine and we didn’t make it a concern in the article.

If anything it seems to me that what defines these Wall Street characters is not religion but the absence of it: even a hardened atheist like myself comes away from the experience of reading about the last two decades of Wall Street history shocked by that community’s complete and utter Godlessness and moral insanity. What I’m saying in other words is that if any of these clowns actually had a real religious sensibility, we wouldn’t be in this mess — and that’s coming from someone who believes all religions to be inherently ridiculous. For Goldman now to hide behind the cloak of Jewish victimhood is both more obnoxious and less convincing than Marion Barry wearing a dashiki after the indictment.

It would seem that the reasons for the cries of anti-Semitsim are just as telling as the story of the perpetrators of and the magnitude of their scams. Nowhere in his essay did Taibbi even use the word “Jew” or even suggest that Jews were behind various scams, he just followed the money and reported on where it led him. The charges of anti-Semitism laid on Matt Taibbi for simply following the money should lead to many debates on how the Anti-Defamation League sponsored hate crime and cyberbullying laws have on journalism should they be signed into law.

I liked the Zyklon B jingle it has a nice ring to it said, on July 18, 2009 at 7:30 am

hey, as much as you’d like to zing the guy with the ‘zyklon b’ line in his post, the minute you jackasses start to go way down the road of absurdity with censorship of things like that, you better realize that blogs are being rated for their censorship rules, and it’s going to cost you if you allow the zionists to muzzle all forms of dissent.

I didn’t think it was so bad. a little bit of bad taste, but hey, far worse is said on the floor of the U.S. Whorehouse of Representatives every day, when they talk about hate crimes which really are “better not talk bad about our masters in ISRAEL” protections for zionism.

besides, you only struck thru it and we can all read it. You’re a lame co-sponsor of that by virtue of that, strictly because had you personally found it so bad, you clearly would have struck the whole comment entirely, which you did not do.

which is it? censor all anti zionist stuff, or open, free blogging. you can’t have it both ways.

Look at the demographics. They speak for themselves. Numbers. Percentages. I dont know of any high level Muslims strip searching our banking system. If the vast majority are of a certain ethnicity, dont blame the census taker. Delusions of persecution as a way to avoid responsibility is getting VERY old.

Okay, maasanova, you did a good job of holding your own. Matter of fact, you redeemed yourself totally. However, the fucksticks who attacked Taibbi for what he wrote, in my opinion; “doth protest too much”, and you yiddish ignoramus’ out there who take issue with me saying that, coming from an ordinary former cannon fodder ‘goyim’ in the military, I’d like to tell you all to “go find a rolling donut so you can all take a flying fuck in it” because nobody, not Matt Taibbi, or any other ‘goyim’ out there, owes you zionist piles of lying shit a goddamned thing. We are indeed tired of your perpetual whining, self victimized proclaiming asses, and to be honest about the assertions; “did jews do this to the whole banking system?”, to sum it up; “you bet they fucking did, the ROTHSCHILDS and BILDERBERGS are the biggest fomenters of world killing since the Vatican gave up number one slot. You fuckers need to go the fuck away and stop trying to stifle the dissent, a better approach is to STOP KILLING AND RIPPING OFF PEOPLE AND WE WILL STOP CALLING YOU OUT ON IT!!!!

There is a overwhelming number of Jews working in Wall Street firms and a similar number that have migrated to Obama’s administration.

That is not a fiction or a slur, but truth.

And like the saying goes, the truth hurts.

The last head of the Federal Reserve, Greenspan is a Jew and helped blow up, then deflate the internet bubble and he also set the stage for the housing bubble.

To be followed by Ben “Shalom” Bernanke, another Jew, who is presiding over the largest transfer of wealth in history.

Robert Rubin, another Jew, helped Wall Street con artists by getting the Financial Services Act passed in 1999 that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act that was put in place after the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
He then quit his Treasury Dept job and went to work on Wall Street where they were setting off an orgy of greed and corruption.

Tim Geithner, former head of the New York Federal Reserve bank and one who helped his cronies loot Wall Street pension funds and retirement accounts, is a Jew.

Bernie Madoff, is a Jew and scammed untold billions from his customers, and shipped a lot of that money to Israel.

The rumour mill is churning out some skuttlebutt about how Goldman’s remarkable financial turn-around has something to do with recycling some of Bernie Maddoffs billions from Israili banks. Perhaps some of Israeli interest cyber trolls are getting ahead of this strory with some pre-emptive anti-Semitic accustations.

“The Fish Rots from The Head” and not a thing to do with antisemitism. Jews overuse the race card and it is backfiring. Zionism is a politicasl movement. Israel is a nation. Both are afforded the same criticsm that all the rest of us get. Put the GD race card in you pocket, stand up.. and be a man for a change.

Steve hits it on the marque. Zionism is a political movement with nothing to do with Judaism. Israel, however is not a nation, it’s a war crime in progress. Zionists survive
by deception. In the US when you criticise them they call you an anti-semite to
deflect and distract away from the real issue. In Europe they use the holocaust to
do the same. They never take you on head on based on the facts. They don’t
because they can’t. The best way to respond is to say” great if you are calling me
an anti-semite then my story must be true. The more you try and deflect the more
truth there is. Don’t descend to their level. Mike Taibbi is falling into the trap and getting distracted. The second you acknowledge the accusation you give it validity and visibility and that is the whole point. Let them scream into the wind, talk to hand but DON’T acknowledge it. Stick to the real issue, the real facts. The anti-semite claim will not get any traction and won’t deflect attention from the real issue. It’s the last
tool they have left to maintain the illusion of legitimacy. They have lost the press because of the internet and have bet on the wrong horse with the dying US empire.
Zionism’s days are numbered, lets help them along as much as we can shall we…

How ironic that a people whose identity evolves from being God’s Chosen, The Tribe that sets itself apart and above, the special group that practices incredibly blatant bigotry in hiring and regularly exploits non-tribal people ruthlessly, is the group that still thinks it can hide its exploitation behind cries of discrimination. The short of it is that if Jews do it, its not illegal or immoral. (See point one: God’s Chosen.) We may not criticize GS or any other banking institution, especially international banking, because it is Jewish, but we must not say it is Jewish because then we’re the bigots. Unbelievable.

The ADL sponsored Hate Crimes legislation will help silence commentators like Mr. Taibbi.

the corrupt scum in the CONgress can pass all the hate crime bills they want, WE SHALL IGNORE THEM AND CARRY ON said, on July 18, 2009 at 9:40 pm

The politicians don’t realize they are treading on thin, cracking ice right now. The U.S. economy is intentionally being destroyed and the nation ‘looted’ at the cost of many millions of confused, angry, very pissed off people. The U.S. government is, in effect, telling us; “we are in charge and YOU ARE NOT”, “GET USED TO DICTATORSHIP” and once again, the ice is thinning more and cracking.

Gerald Celente is right about violent unrest about to unfold here. You can only take away so much of what the people have before they have nothing left to lose, and have only one choice, and that is REVOLUTION.

and we’re speeding towards that day. Passing the hate crimes bills are just more accellerant for that fire. There will come a day, and mark my words, when these politicians will regret taking this nation down this dank, bloody dirt trail they’ve hijacked us onto.

They’ll be ignored. If they try to enforce hate crimes bills, they’ll only push the nation closer to the inevitable, bloody, but oh so necessary revolt that is coming.

Let them do what they want. Their days are numbered. There will be hell to pay for what they are doing to this country at the behest of the jewish bankers in Europe.

I read Matt’s article with much interest and could find nothing even remotely bigotted about the article. The article focussed on naked greed and nothing else. The rapacious greed of the Goldmanites knows no bounds. This one outift has disproportionately benefitted from the deregulation of the banking and investment industry. Their ex employees read like a whos who of the highest levels of government appointments. Matt’s article was well written and researched and a pleasure to read and I look forward to more from this gifted journalist. Internet trolls can go back to their creepy little caves.

Matt Taibbi is not exercising Arabic supremacy by naming as too influential & corrupt Goldman Sachs, which family gentile Al Gore’s own family is intermarried. GS is only one of many, including GoyCorps, owned by people of all backgrounds, & equally influential & corrupt. In attacking Taibbi, such fools actually defend Goldman Sachs for having robbed them & America blind, & a greedy fool & his money are soon parted. So if one were to try to follow the reasoning of those “commenting” on this site & spewing generalized hatred while violating the new Hate Crimes Legislation, then one might well conclude the following, that if a Catholic Italian member of the Mafia is exposed publicly for his role in Mafioso crimes & is criticized by Tabbi, does it follow that the Mafia is a Catholic Italian conspiracy involving all Italians? Or that the Italian Ponzi scheme is also operated by all Italians? Or that Tony Soprano represents the Italian world? Of course not. In a “free” capitalist world, Jews, too, get to behave reprehensibly, as individuals in business or otherwise, just as does any non Jew or any Italian, Brit, Frenchman, Palestinian, Saudi, Mexican, Irishman or Costa Rican might also behave. Taibbi is not being anti-Semitic. He is one of the few investigative journalists willing to expose how the US has been systematically dismantled by those it made impossibly wealthy. By the Way Anti-Jew, not anti-Semitic, is what most of the comments here qualify as. If the writers were truly anti-Semitic they would be against ALL Semites, including Palestinians & Saudis. For example, Matt Taibbi could easily show proof of a personal bias against Jews had he defended Saudis as scapegoats of 9/11. But one gathers he is on record (so far) as accepting at face value that his Arab brethren were the sole perpetrators, rightly or wrongly asserting that 9/11 was NOT an inside job, nor orchestrated by a Jewish conspiracy. So for all you xenophobic KKK types out there who just crawled out from under a rock, do try to get it straight exactly who you just love to hate: Is it Jews? Israelis? Semites? Zionists? Bankers? Politicians? Capitalists? Thieves? Or is this just a bigoted, venomous, loathing hate fest outlet directed at handy profiled groups in general? – Oh & by the way, speaking of ethnic nerve, a criminal gangster named John Gotti is said to have formed the Italian/American Antidefamation League. Frank Sinatra was its National Chair. The ADL ultra liberal contingent was first struck dumb, then rushed to sue them.

Granny (true Semitic Judaism) is extinguished by the wolf (Zionists) when she opens the door thinking it’s Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf then clothes himself in her garb (pretends to be her when he is nothing of the sort) to trick LRRH into thinking he’s granny.

Excitedly LRRH approaches granny’s little house and knocks on the door. She hears a voice telling her to come in but it doesn’t quite sound like granny but who else could it possibly be, so she opens the door and is now sharing the space with the wolf as he lay in granny’s bed dressed in granny’s nightshirt and cap. LRRH questions this strange figure that doesn’t at all resemble granny nor do they sound like her, so she starts to question…by this time it’s too late and the wolf springs forth to eat LRRH.

Beware those who call themselves Jews but are not. These political Zionists are the wolf deceiving us while pretending to be someone else.
w minutes later the girl shows up and knocks on the door

[…] Rolling Stone writer called ‘anti-Semitic’ for simply following the money by Maasanova Popular Rolling Stone contributor, writer and blogger Matt Taibbi claims that he was sent e-mails which […] […]

1. Using gold as currency is Ponzi scheme. Gold has no exchange value and the last person holding it will die of hunger when famine hits, this was a recurring theme in history ever since gold is used as currency.

2. Nations that used food grains as currency always prospered, food grains has usable energy to sustain life and real exchange value. Ancient civilizations of India and China used food grains as currency. Nations that used gold currency always disintegrated because of the ponzi effect of gold currency.

3. Gold and Fiat currency and the sinister banksters behind them stand thoroughly exposed now, like in the story of the king and the magic cloth!

4. We need to evolve an energy based currency system for further advancement of human civilization.

Mia Nony is nuts. John Gotti didn’t start the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League. Joe Colombo started it, and he was gunned down in Columbus Circle for it. The Italians have always been the Fall Guys for the Jewish Mob.

That said, Matt Taibbi is a mediocre hack who cribbed his article off of TONS of material on the web. He probably made up the whole “anti-Semite” story to draw attention to his feeble scribblings for a dead rag. Nobody reads Rolling Stone anymore.

Calling somebody an “anti-Semite” these days is like saying they hate crabgrass. That Jewish “anti-Semite” conspiracy theory has it that every Gentile is some kind of werewolf. Jewish culture is paranoid schizophrenic.

Where are all the Opium $? Jews, Italians, Flips, Buddah Heads, Burritos all have the greed; so have at it, as long as the AK-47’s are not used as trade in bait for cars, who gives a shit. Money will play with money, poor people don’t commit suicide.

Most Eastern European Jews have neither a racial nor a
historic connection with Palestine. Their ancestors were not
inhabitants of the “Promised Land.” They are the direct descendants
of the people of the Khazar [alternate spelling for Khozar]
Kingdom, which existed until the 12th century. The Khazars were a
non-Semitic … Mongolian tribal people…. About the 7th century
A.D., the King of the Khazars adopted Judaism as the state
religion, and the majority of inhabitants joined him in the new
allegiance. Before that date there was no such thing as a Khazar
who was a Jew [Judahite]. Neither then nor since was there such a
thing as a Khazar whose ancestors had come from the Holy Land….

…these Eastern European, Yiddish-speaking Zionist Jews have neither a geographic,
historic nor ethnic connection with either the Jews of the Old
Testament or the land of Palestine.

Now Mr Taibbi knows how it feels to be unceremoniously attacked based on a straw man argument. He has used this tactic himself, when dealing with those who seek the truth about 911 or in discussing Ron Paul.

Goldman gained its biggest advantage after the “Economic 911” last year, and though I basically agree with Taibbi’s research (though its about more than just “greed” its about power and control!) still… its funny to see the shoe on the other foot now. regardless – TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT

Hope we all have learned something from this…. NO ONE is safe from being called a “Jew Hater”, even an (allegedly) gay liberal like Mr Taibbi. (not that there’s anything wrong with that – I mean being gay, not the other)

Jaxon X good call, I wanted to include that, but I also wanted to stay on one topic, so I left it out. In a way it is ironic that Taibbi is being attacked considering the drubbing he gave 9/11 activists. I’d say he had this coming.

In any case, we all know now that these kinds of smears like “anti-Semite” and “conspiracy theorists” are just shut-up words used to distract from the real issues.

Att: ALAN “CAB(b)AL(a)”(ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible): Your ad hominem rremark is not in league w/ those aimed @ Irishman Matt Taibbi. Ok, so Joe Columbo started the Italian Anti Defamation League. In 1970 Colombo’s son Joe Jr. was arrested for melting down $500,000 worth of silver dimes. Colombo felt his son was unfairly investigated because of Italian heritage. Colombo responded by forming the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League. W/ the popularity of protest, given the time period of “flower power”, Colombo made a stir & duped many celebrities into joining his organization.He established chartered association in other states, oddly enough headed up by alleged mob bosses, & set about protesting the FBI. Membership swelled to 150,000+ by the end of 1970. By 1971 Carlo Gambino, who was thought to have placed Colombo in power, had seen enough. Not only was Colombo in the spotlight, he pocketed several $100,000s from membership dues & fundraisers. Previously, in 1970, Gambino had the Brooklyn docks closed in honor of Columbus Day for Colombo. It would be the first & only time such an event occurred. On June 28, 1971, while heading up a rally in Colombus Circle, Colombo was shot down & lapsed into a coma. His murderer, disguised as a press agent, Jerome Johnson was gunned down by Colombo bodyguards. It was thought that Carlo Gambino & Carmine Persico gave the thumbs up for his murder. Colombo died on May 23, 1978. Organized crime in America was born of amalgamation of the two most powerful ethnic crime groups in the underworld of the early 1930s – the Italian Mafiosi & Jewish gangsters. The prime architect of the so-called Jewish or Kosher Mafia, as some journalist referred to it, was Meyer Lansky, who judiciously pulled strings that brought many powerful Jewish gangsters around the country under the umbrella of the emerging national crime syndicate. Lansky worked closely w/ Lucky Luciano & aided him in his fight against old-line Mafiosi, then under the competing leaderships of Joe “the Boss” Masseria & Salvatore Maranzano. These old-world Sicilians, especially Masseria, hated gangsters of other ethnic derivation, cooperated with them only when absolutely necessary, & looked forward to the day they could get rid of them. Luciano & Lansky realized there was no room in the underworld for such COUTER-PRODUCTIVE BIGOTRY & they plotted to get rid of both Masseria & Maranzano. After a bloody war & much intrigue that ended in 1931, both Masseria & Maranzano had been eradicated. Now it became necessary for Lansky & Luciano to “sell” their program of “brotherhood” to their Jewish & Italian followers. Lansky set about the task of uniting the Jewish gangs across the country. His missionary work brought in the Purple Gang from Detroit & the Moe Dalitz forces operating in Cleveland. He followed this up with a momentous convention of East Coast forces at the Franconia Hotel in New York City on November 11, 1931. Those attending included Bugsy Siegel, a longtime partner of Lansky & Luciano; Louis “Lepke” Buchalter; Joseph “Doc” Stacher; Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro; Hyman “Curly” Holtz; Louis “Shadows” Kravits; Harry Tietlebaum; Philip “Little Farvel” Kovalick; & Harry “Big Greenie” Greenberg. Lansky explained to participants that Luciano had successfully united the Italian Mafiosi, & that the Lansky-Luciano “combination” or national crime syndicate was the wave of the future. All the participants agreed. The Franconia conference established a firm platform: “The Yids & Dagos no longer fight each other,” was the quotation attributed to the loquacious Siegel. (BTW, The Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz was reportedly killed by his Italian peers)

” That commenter on your blog may actually be working for the Israeli government

MuzzleWatch
July 19, 2009

Straight out of Avigdor Lieberman’s Foreign Ministry: a new Internet Fighting Team! Israeli students and demobilized soldiers get paid to pretend they are just regular folks and leave pro-Israel comments on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other sites. The effort is meant to fight the “well-oiled machine” of “pro-Palestinian websites, with huge budgets… with content from the Hamas news agency.” The approach was test-marketed during Israel’s assault on Gaza, and by groups like Give Israel Your United Support, a controversial effort to use instant-access technology to crowd-source Israel advocates to fill in flash polls or vote up key articles on social networking sites.

Will the responders who are hired for this also present themselves as “ordinary net-surfers”?

“Of course,” says Shturman. “Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the policy-explanation department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and I want to tell you the following.’ Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis. They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the Foreign Ministry developed.”

The full article, translated by Occupation Magazine into English here:

The Foreign Ministry presents: talkbackers in the service of the State

By: Dora Kishinevski

Calcalist 5 July 2009

Translated for Occupation Magazine by George Malent

After they became an inseparable part of the service provided by public-relations companies and advertising agencies, paid Internet talkbackers are being mobilized in the service in the service of the State. The Foreign Ministry is in the process of setting up a team of students and demobilized soldiers who will…”

Gear up for the coming draconian laws, everyone needs to learn about their powers as members of any jury.
They have the power of Jury Nullification. http://fija.org/
web site is FIJA(DOT)ORG

This was wirtten baout by many Supreme Court Justices and politicians as the way the people keep the Government in Check.
JURIES DO NOT HAVE TO ANSWER FOR THEIR ACTIONS!!!
If you believe the “regulation” to be unconstitutional then vote to aquit and hang the jury, better yet convince others that the Constitution requires us to be judges of both the facts and the Law.

Education Education Education.

Even though most distrust the law because of it’s complexity, there is order with-in the complexity and I believe it may hold the remedy.

“The Liberty of a society is inversely proportional to the number of Lawyers employed by the Government.”
all rights reserved

The energy which inhabits the arrogant, agressive selfish flesh will have to go. Which ones are these?? How will they go?? People are being offended and they are the ones abused by the current system which is falling fast. Those who have ears are hearing now. Be careful to speak as a group, Jew or non jew. Stand with truth and not your race. Stand alone if you must. I am prepared to take on all bullys. One might think a little deeper and realize the world is changing and the higher vibration which is love is the new age and it is here. It is a long awaited time on earth. All Peoples hearts cry out for justice, We are all racest to a point and fight with our own by our sides. Continue to speak truth, walk through the wall of fear, demand justice for the good of all but you must start with yourself. Demand it for yourself. Stand in the face of the bully. We must bully the bully no mater the race.
I for one will be waiting on the otherside for the muther fuckers with no mercy for the poor and week and good people of the earth. We need a revelation so there will not be a revolution. I also can only stand so much. I want to live in peace with all races, so I am seeing good things all around me, because be sure of this, our future is nothing more than the reincarnation of our thoughts. Choose good, but if cornered fight till the death of your space suit, with all that you have.